The One Where Rachel Crosses the Line
by Rachel Bing
Summary: Things change when two friends grow closer together...set in Season 9. Sorry for the awful blurb!!
1. Default Chapter

The One Where Rachel Crosses the Line  
  
Author: Vicstick  
  
Contact: vicstick@silent-fear.org  
  
Website:   
  
Genre: Comedy/Drama  
  
Certificate: 12 (PG-13?)  
  
Relationship: Chandler & Rachel fic. Although I suppose there are references to M/C & R/R.  
  
Summary: Set some time in Series 9, before Chandler quits his job in Tulsa. Due to circumstances, Rachel and Chandler are brought closer together. Aware that they are in the wrong, the two 'friends' try to hide their growing relationship. How will Monica and Ross feel if they find out?  
  
Note from me: Hi everyone! Okay, this is the first Friends fanfic I've written in about three years! None of my stories (except ER ones) have been posted on ff.net. Felt like writing one the other day though after reading some. I hope you like it, please R&R I would really appreciate feedback!! (  
  
Chapter One  
  
Rachel Green stood with her baby in her arms, gently rocking her to sleep. "Shh, shh, Emma, go to sleep," she spoke with a musical tone. Staring down at her beautiful daughter her heart fluttered. She loved Emma more than words could say. A smile escaped her lips and she found herself beaming at the baby for no apparent reason, much like she usually did. Emma's head lulled and Rachel realised she was asleep. Gently, Rachel placed Emma in her cot. After a moment or two starring at her daughter, Rachel made her way over to her answer machine, to once again replay the message left to make sure she was not dreaming:  
"Hey, Rachel, it's Mattie. Monica gave me your number at work and said you were interested. I hope that we can go out some time. Give me a call."  
After calling him back a few days ago, Rachel had arranged a date with him. It was her first date since the birth and she was nervous. She wanted to start going out again but she knew she would miss Emma. The date was set for tonight.  
Rachel heard the door open and when she turned to look she saw it was Ross. "Hey," he said as he began to walk over to the cot. "How's my baby?" He said in a baby-voice.  
"Fine," Rachel replied, "Emma's good too." She joked and smiled at Ross.  
Ross returned the smile. Noticing that Emma was asleep he turned his attention to Rachel. "How's everything?"  
"Good, good," Rachel replied. She figured that she should probably mention her plans to Ross. "Actually, I need to tell you something...I'm going out with a..." Realising that Ross most likely would not agree with her date she decided that what he did not know could not hurt him. "Friend, a girl I used to go high school with. So I need you to look after Emma tonight without me."  
"Oh, I'm sorry, no can do. I thought I'd already told you that Monica and I have got to go to our parents' house tonight." Ross explained.  
"No, I don't recall you saying anything," she said with a subtle sigh.  
"Sorry, it's just my cousin Janine, you remember her? Well she is getting engaged so they are throwing her a party." He resolved.  
"Damn it!" Rachel said, then realising she sounded a bit too annoyed continued, "I was just so looking forward to seeing this girl and finally getting out of the house. I finally feel ready to leave Emma. And I can't even leave her with Monica and Chandler because they're going with you!"  
"Actually, it's just Monica that's going with me; she doesn't want Chandler to go after the incident with Janine when she stayed with them..." Ross started to recount the whole incident with himself and Janine and felt himself going red with embarrassment. He decided to continue to take his mind off it. "Anyway, you could always ask Chandler?"  
Rachel considered it. When her sister Amy had visited for Thanksgiving, Rachel had seen a whole other side to Chandler which made her seem like she could trust leaving Emma with Chandler. "Yeah, I think I'll ask him." She smiled.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
"Thank you, Chandler; I really owe you big time!" Rachel said as she showed Chandler into the apartment. "I feel bad for asking you since you're only back from Tulsa at the weekends."  
"Don't worry about it, I'd only be by myself...its Saturday night, damn I gotta get a life!" Chandler said jokingly.  
Rachel laughed and picked up her purse. She was wearing a long black dress with spaghetti straps and a slit up to her thigh. Her hair was loose and free, slick and straight.  
"Aww, you look great, Rach," Chandler smiled. "A bit 'dressy' for a friend though..." he smirked, knowing that she must have been lying to Ross.  
"Yeah...I have a date, please don't mention it to Ross, he gets funny about things like this." She rolled her eyes and walked to the door. Chandler picked up Emma and followed Rachel so that she could say goodbye to her. "Bye my honey bunny," Rachel smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Bye, Chandler."  
"Bye, Rach, have fun!"  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Rachel had been sitting at her table in the restaurant for twenty-five minutes and her date still had not shown up. She folded her arms impatiently. It had crossed her mind to leave but she decided to continue waiting for a while longer. She did not want to admit that the first date after having Emma stood her up. Just then she noticed someone familiar.  
"I'm sorry I'm late, something came up," Mattie apologised as he approached the table.  
"It's okay," Rachel lied and forced a smile. After a while they had ordered their meals and had been talking about their lives. Rachel was still laughing at one of his jokes.  
"Ha, that's a good one!" Rachel finished her meal and checked the time. "Oh, would you excuse me for a moment I need to make a quick phone call." She got up to use the telephone. After a few minutes she returned to the table. "Sorry about that."  
"No problem, is everything okay?" he asked.  
"Yeah, Emma's fine," Rachel smiled. Mattie looked a little confused. "Emma? Who's Emma?"  
"My daughter," she replied and took a sip of her wine. There was a look on Mattie's face which made Rachel realise. "Monica never mentioned that I have a baby did she?"  
"No she did not," he sounded startled and annoyed. Rachel looked offended. "Is that a problem?"  
"Well, kind of, yeah," Mattie told her. "It's okay; I just don't usually like having baggage in the relationship."  
"Baggage?!"  
"It's cool with me; I just have this thing about not getting too serious with women who have kids." He gave her a sexy smile, "but I'm up for some fun if you are?"  
"Thanks for the dinner, I'm leaving." Rachel stood up.  
"What?" He stood up with her.  
"Look, if you can't accept the fact that I've got a daughter and you're going to treat me disrespectfully then you can shove your 'fun' where the sun doesn't shine." With this, Rachel left. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two  
  
After taking a walk home a few blocks Rachel reached her apartment building. She felt worthless after her date. She was upset from what he had said and the realisation that she could not just go out with guys anymore, there would be complications.  
She reached her apartment door and walked in to find Chandler with Emma on his knee entertaining her. Rachel stood for a moment in awe of his unexpected skills with the baby. Emma was giggling and he was not even singing Baby Got Back. Rachel smiled at the irony that Chandler could even make babies laugh with his sense of humour.  
Chandler did not even notice Rachel standing in the doorway until she uncontrollably let a laugh escape her. He turned his head to her. "Hey, Rach! You're back early," he said surprised.  
Rachel sighed, suddenly zooming back to reality. "The date went terribly. It was just awful." She walked across and sat down next to Chandler.  
"What went wrong? Everything seemed to be going great when you called me," Chandler said, turning his position on the sofa so as he was facing her.  
"Yeah, that was before the jerk found out about Emma, that's when he seemed to have a problem with the situation," Rachel explained. Chandler realised that she sounded upset and so he put his arm around her and pulled her closer, still holding baby Emma securely with his other arm.  
"He's an idiot, Rach; he doesn't know what he's missing. You're a great person and Emma is wonderful, in fact we had some great conversations while you were out, and I tell you she's got a quick-wit, seems I've got some competition!" He joked, trying to lighten Rachel and make her feel better.  
"Thank you, Chandler, that's very sweet," she smiled and gave him a light hug. She suddenly realised, "Oh, you can go if you want now?"  
"No, if it's ok with you I'd rather stay a bit longer, Monica and Ross are staying over at their parents' house tonight, and I don't want to leave you and Emma alone." Chandler said.  
"Aww, that's very sweet, thank you," Rachel smiled.  
  
Rachel and Chandler sat watching the television with Emma for a while. Chandler showed Rachel all of the things he had done with Emma. Rachel could not get enough of Emma giggling at Chandler when he pulled faces.  
"You are so great with Emma," Rachel told him. Chandler looked at her and smiled. "Thanks, I'm actually surprising myself tonight." Emma was now dozing off in his arms. He cradled the small baby and rocked her. "She is so beautiful."  
Rachel smiled. "She is."  
  
Emma was now in her cot and Rachel and Chandler were just watching a movie. Chandler suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder...literally. Rachel had nodded off and was leaning gently against his arm. He felt sorry for Rachel. She had explained more about what the guy had said to her in the restaurant and he knew, from experience, that guys do not usually like women with children. It was a shame, really. In the past, when he was dating, he would get freaked out at the prospect of dating a girl with a child. Now, however, he realised that he may have been missing out on a lot...on children like Emma, and women like Rachel. He felt guilty as he realised that he probably hurt women like Rachel was hurt tonight. Chandler gently moved Rachel's head off his shoulder and he stood up and put Emma in her cot. He put on his coat to leave. When he opened the door the noise woke Rachel.  
"Hey, are you going?" Rachel asked, "Why don't you just crash here on the sofa tonight?"  
"Are you sure you don't mind?" he queried.  
"No, not at all," she smiled. She walked into her bedroom and cam back out with a pillow and blanket. "Here, I hope this is okay?" she said as she handed them over to Chandler.  
"That's great, thanks," he gave her a smile. They looked at each other for a moment. It was weird, they both realised how each had matured. "Well you go get some sleep, don't worry about Emma tonight I'll look out for her." He told her.  
"Thanks, Chandler, for everything tonight," she put her arms around him and gave him a hug. He wanted to hug her back; however he was holding the blanket which made it difficult. Rachel smiled and then retreated to her room.  
  
Lying awake in bed, Rachel found herself thinking about the moment she opened the door to her apartment and saw Chandler with Emma. She had never seen someone so good with children. He seemed to spend time with her rather than leaving her in her cot.  
Rachel could not quite understand why she was thinking of Chandler...of all people. She also could not understand why she got no sleep that night because of this.  
  
*** Ok, there's the first two chapters, I was only going to put up one first but there wasn't really much of a cliff-hanger! (I suck with cliff- hangers!!) Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, I've written Chapter 3 and some of 4 so I should be adding them shortly when I've been over them ( 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three  
  
For some reason, Rachel felt slightly awkward around Chandler for a while. Mainly because as she sat watching her daytime soaps her mind kept drifting to Chandler. Despite the awkwardness she wanted to spend more time with him. He seemed to get on with Emma so much that Rachel thought that she could initiate things for this reason. Chandler was in Tulsa at the moment, it was Thursday night and Chandler usually returned home on Fridays. Rachel picked up the telephone, being the daytime she realised he was at work so she left a message on his cell phone:  
"BEEP...Hi, Chandler, its Rachel." She said in a jolly tone. "I'm just calling to ask if you'd perhaps like to take Emma out with me to the park or something on Sunday. I'm only asking because it seemed you enjoyed being in her company last week and also to warn you not to make plans. Let me know if you're up for it. Bye!"  
As she hung up the phone, Rachel wondered why she had done that and if it would seem weird to Chandler.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
It was Friday and Rachel was at Monica and Chandler's apartment. The whole gang was there waiting for Chandler's return, like they did every Friday evening. She had never got a reply from Chandler and she was slightly worried that he was avoiding spending time with her and Emma because he did not enjoy their company.  
They were all sitting around chatting when the door to the apartment opened and Chandler struggled through the door with a suitcase. Monica rushed to greet him and they kissed passionately. For some reason, Rachel felt a sickly feeling in her stomach which shocked her. Rachel was unusually quiet and sat thinking about why she was feeling differently.  
"Do I not even get a 'hello'?" Chandler joked as he walked over to where Rachel was sitting. She stood up. "Hey!" she beamed and gave him a hug. "How was Tulsa?"  
"Sinfully boring," he replied. "Oh and by the way, I'd love take Emma to the park on Sunday with you." He said with a smile.  
"That's great! Emma will be so pleased to see you, I know it sounds unbelievable but I'm sure she missed you!"  
Chandler smiled. "Really?"  
"Yeah, I can tell she's just storing the jokes up ready for when she sees you," she japed.  
"Dinner is ready," Monica shouted to Rachel and Chandler from the kitchen.  
"Okay, so anyway on Sunday I'll call around at yours around eleven?" Chandler suggested.  
"Yeah, that sounds good to me," Rachel smiled and they both went to sit over at the dining table.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
"Hey, sexy," Monica said in a sensuous tone as she stood seductively in a revealing nightgown in the bedroom doorway.  
Chandler was sitting on the sofa, turning his attention away from the television and towards Monica his mouth fell open in awe. "Wow, you look...incredible!" He said and stood up. Monica walked up to him and embarrassed him with a enthusiastic kiss. He wrapped his arms around her body and held her tightly.  
  
Across the street Rachel put Emma in her cot and as she glanced out of the window she saw Monica and Chandler. Usually something like that would not bother her and she would go about her life without even thinking about it. However, this time it was different. She turned her focus away from the window as watching it was making her feel strange.  
Ross walked out of his bedroom and saw Rachel looking befuddled. "Everything okay?" he asked.  
Rachel nodded. "Uh-hum, fine." But everything was not fine. Rachel was scared to admit her new feelings for her friend, and not only was he her friend but also her best friend's husband. 'Don't be stupid, Rach,' she thought, 'you don't have feelings for Chandler...do you?' 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four  
  
There was a knock on the door. "Hey, Emma, that will be your Uncle Chandler!" Rachel said excitedly. It was Sunday morning at last. Rachel had been waiting impatiently for this moment. She could not wait for Chandler to spend more time with her and Emma.  
She opened the door. "Hey!" She greeted Chandler.  
"Hey, Rach," he smiled and walked in. "Hey Emma!" he said taking Emma from Rachel's arms and cradling her in his. "Are you excited?"  
"Yep," Rachel replied as she tidied up some baby toys.  
"Actually I was talking to Emma," Chandler said, slightly amused. Rachel felt a bit stupid.  
"Oh," she replied and then laughed. "I don't get out much!" Chandler laughed also.  
  
At the park, Chandler pushed the pram that Emma was in. They stopped at a bench and sat down. Chandler took Emma out of her pram so she could appreciate the atmosphere outdoors. Rachel smiled at his natural parenting instincts.  
"Thanks for coming out with us today, Chandler," she said appreciatively.  
"Well thank you for inviting me," Chandler said as he played about with Emma. Rachel looked on in admiration. She had seen Ross behave like this with Emma but this was Chandler, the guy who had been terrified at the mention of children.  
Chandler turned his attention away from Emma and noticed Rachel staring. "Is everything okay?" he asked, worrying that he was holding Emma the wrong way or something.  
"Yes, it's perfect," she said lightly. Chandler smiled and continued playing 'Peek-a-boo' with the baby.  
  
Rachel and Chandler had spent a while in the park talking and decided to grab a bite to eat at a nearby cafe.  
"So what's going on with you and Ross?" Chandler asked, then took a sip of his Cola.  
"Nothing," Rachel answered looking down at the table.  
"Oh, come on, you can tell me," he prompted with a smile.  
"Well, really, nothing is happening...it's starting to make me really worry as well," she admitted.  
"What do you mean?" he enquired sympathetically.  
"Well, you know, I don't want to be one of those people..." she trailed off.  
"What people?"  
"Single mothers." She blurted out. She stared awkwardly past Chandler then made eye-contact with him. "I'm scared of raising Emma alone," Rachel admitted.  
"Look, Rach, you're not alone," Chandler said and placed his hand on top of hers on the table. "You've got Ross, and you know that me and the others are always there for you."  
Rachel smiled and wiped her eyes with her other hand. "Thank you."  
"No problem, you can always count on me, Rach," he said.  
"Rachel?" A voice asked behind her, she turned around. "Rachel Green?" the woman asked again.  
"Yeeeah?" Rachel answered slowly. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"  
"Yeah!" The girl said excitedly with a smile. She was in her mid- twenties by the look of it. "Don't you remember? You use to baby-sit me."  
"Halle?" Rachel asked. The girl nodded. "Oh my god! It's been, like, forever!"  
"I know! So how've you been?" Halle asked.  
"I'm good, I work at Ralph Lauren...and, well, I had a baby," Rachel said motioning towards the pram which was next to the table.  
"Oh my, she is beautiful!" Halle said in a very girly way. She turned her attention to Chandler. "You really do have a wonderful daughter and you make a lovely couple!"  
Rachel and Chandler exchanged looks and laughed. "Actually, this isn't my husband. Do you remember my friend Monica Gellar? Well this is her husband...and Monica's brother, Ross, is the baby's father. We're not together but we live together...it's kind of complicated!" Rachel explained with a laugh.  
"Yeah, it sounds it!" Halle giggled. A man stood at the cafe door calling her name. "Oh, sorry, I have to go, it's nice to see you again, Rachel, I hope we can get together some time..."  
"Me too," Rachel smiled and Halle left.  
  
Rachel and Chandler decided to leave the cafe and walk home. They had just reached Rachel and Ross' apartment and were laughing about the conversation with Halle. "I can't believe that she thought we were married!" Chandler laughed.  
"Hmm," Rachel said with a short laugh. There was a strangely awkward silence between them which they had never experienced before.  
"Well I'd better get back, Monica will be stressing about me," he broke the silence.  
"Yeah, of course," Rachel said and put her key in the door. Before opening it she turned back to Chandler. "We should do this again some time, I really enjoyed it."  
"Yeah, me too," Chandler said. Rachel leaned into him and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. As she pulled away there was some eye- contact. "W-w...well--okay, I have to go," Chandler said taking a step back.  
"Oh, okay..." Rachel said, rather taken aback by what had just happened. She watched as Chandler walked away and she entered her apartment, more confused and lonely than ever.  
  
***Okay, so I hope you're not losing interest in the story, I'm trying to make it as interesting as I can : ) I'm partly through the next chapter and I've actually got the whole story planned in notes so there should be more chapters uploaded very soon! 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five  
  
Chandler and Rachel avoided each other for the next two days until Chandler went away again to Tulsa. Rachel had been feeling extremely down over this two-day period and felt that she needed to speak to Chandler about what had happened the other day. As she sat in her apartment with Emma she realised she desperately needed to seek advice from somebody...anybody. The door opened and disturbed her thoughts, Ross walked in.  
"Hey," he greeted her with a smile. He noticed her dispirited aurora and instantly recognised that something was wrong. "Is everything okay, Rach?" he asked supportively.  
Rachel figured that she could disguise who she was talking about and ask Ross for some advice. "Well actually, I need your opinion about something..."  
"Of course, I'm here if you need to talk," he smiled and took her hand.  
Rachel smiled back. "There's somebody I kind of like...but I'm not sure how he feels about me and I don't know what to do."  
"You should probably tell him," Ross said. Secretly he had inkling that the person she was talking about was him. In his mind they had recently been growing closer together.  
"Well, it's not that simple...he is...involved with someone..." Rachel explained. She noticed Ross look down, Rachel thought that he was disappointed in her, however he was actually disappointed in what she had said as he was not involved with anyone which made him realise that Rachel was not talking about him.  
He did not want to stay in this conversation any longer. Ross did not like the idea of helping Rachel out with her love life; he was clearly still hung-up over her.  
"Look, Rachel, all I can say is that if you think this guy feels the same way about you then perhaps you should tell him...but if you're not wholly sure don't try anything, it's not worth ruining a relationship if you're not completely dependable about your feelings."  
Ross stood up and walked to his bedroom. Rachel sat on the sofa still, considering what Ross had just said to her. Her mind was so stuck on Chandler that she did not notice the strange way that Ross was acting. She needed to come to a decision about Chandler; she did not know how she really felt about Chandler. She carefully thought about the prospect of her and Chandler: it just could not happen...there was Monica, her best friend. Could she really hurt Monica that severely? Rachel decided that she would have to sort out her feelings before deciding what to do. After all, it could be just mixed up feelings and emotions that had led her to think of Chandler in this way.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Chandler sat in his office in Tulsa bored witless. His thoughts had drifted once again to Rachel. He felt regretful about the way he had left the situation with Rachel back home. After their little "moment" on Sunday he could not bring himself to see her. It wasn't that he did not want to; it was that he did not know how to act around her. He still wasn't sure if the feelings were mutual or one-way...his way. He felt awful the way he was now thinking of Rachel, he was married and he loved Monica more than anybody, he believed. However, he realised that his feelings for Rachel would not disappear instantly and the more he thought about her the stronger his feelings were becoming. He decided that he needed to speak to her and settled on telephoning her when he arrived back at his hotel room later that night.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Rachel had reached a concrete decision...the only problem was she had to lie to Ross again. She was sure that she had things covered in her head; nevertheless this still did not make it seem right. Rachel stepped out of her bedroom door and saw Ross watching the television on the sofa.  
"Hey, Ross..." she smiled, he turned his attention to her. "Anyway, I forgot to mention that I spoke to my dad before and he wants me to go and visit him. Apparently, Amy and Gill are spending some time at the ski lodge with him and he thinks it would be good for us if we all spent some time together."  
"Yeah, that sounds good...I'll take care of Emma, are you sure you feel ready to leave Emma?" he asked her.  
Rachel had not really considered this, but she needed to sort her head out about this Chandler matter. She figured that visiting Chandler in Tulsa would help her to have some time alone with his to sort the situation out.  
"Yeah, well it should only be for a night or two...I'll keep calling to see if she is okay," Rachel told him. "I should be leaving later on tonight."  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Chandler arrived back at his hotel room around eight o'clock that evening. He was avoiding calling Rachel and decided to just watch a movie. It was around an hour and a half later and Chandler had nodded-off on the sofa while watching the television. He was disturbed from his rest when there was a knock on the door. He slowly got up, stretched and wondered who it could be at the door. As he opened it and looked at the person standing there he wasn't sure if he had actually woken up.  
"Rachel?!" he exclaimed.  
Rachel smiled unsurely and just stared at him. Before them both knew it they were entrapped in an emotional and passion-filled kiss.  
  
*** Ooh the suspense! *lol* I'll try and write more tonight, depends what I get up to because I might be getting a domain today *fingers crossed* but anyway if I write more I'll post it tomorrow or some time in the next few days : ) Please review, I do appreciate it!! : D 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six  
  
Rachel and Chandler parted from the kiss and looked deep into each others' eyes. There were a few moments of silence while each read their looks.  
"W-what...what...just happened?" Chandler stammered, not really sure of what was going on. Rachel just kept staring into his eyes. She really didn't know how to answer...or why it had happened. After a few moments she spoke.  
"Something amazing," she answered softly, not extracting her gaze from his for one second. They both kissed again. This time it was it was longer and deeper, each of them appreciating each other.  
  
After a while they both had cooled off and had sat down to talk.  
"What are you doing here, Rach?" Chandler asked, still slightly bewildered as to why she was there and also from what happened when she arrived.  
"Well, I realised that we needed to sort this out between us. The other day after we took Emma to the park we had a moment...I wasn't sure if you felt the same way but I had a feeling that you felt something, I could tell by the look in your eyes." Rachel explained to him. "Look, I didn't come here to...well, not to do anything drastic, I just wanted to talk...what happened before was an impulse...it wasn't planned, I just want you to know that I didn't come here to hurt anyone, I just came here to find out how I truly felt." She clarified.  
"And..." Chandler spoke, looking earnestly into her eyes. "How do you feel?"  
Rachel took a deep breath. "I-I...I really...I do have feelings for you." She managed to say with all of her strength.  
Chandler was surprised, even despite their kisses he had not really expected Rachel to admit that she had feelings for him.  
"I haven't stopped thinking about you since I saw you with Emma when I got back from my date," Rachel began to elucidate. "You had such a connection and you were so supportive of me...I couldn't help thinking of you differently since then." She continued, beginning to get slightly upset.  
Chandler held her hand. "I know...I've been feeling the same." He admitted.  
Rachel smiled at him, then zooming back to reality she got quite uneasy, "but then I keep thinking of Monica and how I'm just the worse person in the world..."  
"You're not a bad person, Rach, I can't help it either...I love Monica, I do...but recently I've just began to realise the connection we have. My feelings for you are very strong...and I can't stop thinking of you either. That may make us wrong, but never think you are a horrible person, Rach, because you're not," he told her, still holding her hand. "You're caring, sensitive, funny, beautiful, and a really good friend -" before he could continue Rachel had leaned in to him and kissed him again on the lips.  
  
Chandler woke up the next day and found Rachel lying next to him. The night had been beautiful; they made love and fell asleep in each others' arms. Rachel was still sleeping but Chandler felt as though he could lie watching her for hours. He touched her hair and stroked her back. The incredible thing was that when he was looking at Rachel, the thought of Monica did not even cross his mind.  
  
Rachel woke up by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She turned over but Chandler was gone, instead there was a note explaining that he had to go into work. She sighed and picked up her phone, "Hello?" She spoke into it.  
"Hey, Rach, you didn't call last night," she heard Ross say.  
Rachel was suddenly aware of her nudity and pulled the covers tighter around her. The sound of Ross' voice shocked her and made reality kick in.  
"Oh...oh, yeah, I couldn't because..." Rachel tried her hardest to think of a reasonable lie. "Dad took us to a family thing and I didn't have my cell phone with me. When I came home I thought it was too late to call. Sorry."  
"It's okay, I think it's good that you're not too obsessive anymore," Ross said.  
Rachel felt pangs of guilt. Being with Chandler had made her forget her priorities: Ross and especially Emma. "I suppose...how is Emma?"  
"She's fine, missing her mummy though I think," he laughed.  
"Aww, is she there?" Rachel asked, missing her more than ever at that moment.  
"She's sleeping right now, I could wake her up?" Ross suggested.  
"No!" Rachel said quickly, remembering the first (and last!) time she woke Emma...it caused too much chaos! "Well anyway I should be back later today...After we've finished skiing I'm coming straight home, should take a few hours."  
"Okay, I can't wait to see you, Rach," Ross said cheerfully, "Emma's not the only one who is missing you."  
Rachel smiled and finished her conversation with Ross with the traditional "Goodbye, I'll see you later", et cetera. She walked to the bathroom to have a shower. A wave of guilt was washing over her. Last night with Chandler had been amazing, there was such a great connection between the two of them and spending the night with him was eminently special to her.  
  
"Look, I don't care what is happening in New York, the figures here are showing that the rates are on a increase," Chandler was interrupted on the telephone by his assistant entering his office.  
"Mr. Bing, there is someone here to see you," she announced.  
"Okay, send them in," he said and continued with his phone call. "So basically, what I'm trying to say is, is that the staff here have been working extremely hard and they deserve some kind of reward, now I'm not saying what but I'm just trying to plant the seed." Chandler stopped talking when he saw Rachel set foot in his office. "Well thanks for your time; I hope you can get back to me soon. Bye." Chandler ended the phone call and walked towards Rachel, a beaming smile on his face.  
"Hey," she said with a smile.  
"Hey," he said back. There was a weird silence between them. It wasn't awkward, just strangely comfortable.  
"Well, I came to see you before I leave," she explained, "Perhaps we should talk about what happened last night...and the consequences of our actions."  
Chandler had been afraid about thinking of this. "Yeah..."  
It killed Rachel to think about what she was about to say. "Maybe we should just leave things...never mention what happened again and both get on with out lives."  
The look on Chandler's face was one of sorrow and grief. "Do you think you can really do that?"  
"No, but I think we have to try," Rachel could feel herself welling up. "It will be for the best, Chandler, you have Monica and I have...a baby."  
"Yeah, you're right," he agreed although it hurt him inside.  
"I've got to go, I'll see you when I get back," Rachel decided she had to leave.  
"Yeah...goodbye," Chandler chocked.  
  
It had been a few minutes and Chandler decided that he couldn't let Rachel walk away from him. His feelings for her were so strong and he couldn't watch her walk away from something so good. He knew she was upset and that she really felt the same as he did. He ran out of his office and through the corridors and down a few flights of stairs. He was desperately hoping to find Rachel. As he finally reached the doors that lead to the outside of the building he looked around franticly seeking Rachel. He finally saw her down the street.  
"Rach!" He shouted loudly as he ran towards her. She turned around and saw him near to her. "Rach," he said as he reached her, he was slightly breathless. "I can't do it...I can't just be friends with you anymore, I care about you too much. And maybe you can pretend like nothing happened last night but I can't. What happened was extraordinary..." Chandler noticed that Rachel had tears in her eyes. He pulled her closer. "Please don't throw this away Rachel," he said. This time it was Rachel who initiated the kiss between them.  
  
***Well I'm sorry I left it a little longer than usual but I hope it was worth it (it's a bit longer than the other ones!) I've been quite busy with my new domain!! I can't post the URL on here as it won't let me but ask me and I'll tell you hehe! Should be more chapters along soon : ) 


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